Domina Dea Speaks

I have an announcement, except I’m not quite ready to spill the beans.

I’ve been busy, like really, fucking, bat, shit, crazy, BUSY.  I’m about to launch a new venture/website and when I’m not in sessions, I’m working on this new thing.  It’s going to be an AWESOME new thing.  I promise.  I will be making a formal announcement in about two weeks.  In the mean time, I’m going to return to the salt mine that currently consumes my every waking hour.

I’ve decided, that as much as I love my trainer, Nick, I’d love him more if our workouts were more like this!  I want to be “on my way” too!

Agnes Scott College currently has an exhibit in the Dalton Gallery that features photographs from the Forest McMullin project titled “Day & Night”.  The series features several pairs of photos that explores who we are, what we show the public, our “day face” if you will, and who we become at night, while in the privacy of our homes.   I had the pleasure of meeting Forest during the summer of 2009 when he approached me about his vision for the project and asked me to participate.   The end result of our photo shoot, and other images from the series, can been seen in the Dalton Gallery trough March 13th.

On Monday, February 28th at 7:00 pm, I will be sitting on a  panel with the photographer, Forest McMullin & Professor of Woman’s Studies, Beth Hackett, in the Dalton Gallery to discuss the “Day & Night” photo project, the images they portray and misconceptions about the BDSM lifestyle.

From Mr. McMullin; Artist Statement for “Day & Night”:

Day & Night is an examination of identity. Most of us have different ways we behave and different faces we wear, depending on the circumstances in which we find ourselves. There’s the work face, the family face, the face with friends, the one with strangers. These faces merge into the complex construct that is our identity. Perhaps each face is as discreet as a separate identity. With some, these identities are nearly indistinguishable from one to the next. For others, they may be radically different.

When it comes to sexuality, the discussion can become much more complex. We may describe ourselves as male or female, straight or gay, bisexual or transgender and at their core, these descriptors define, to some degree, sexual practice. And these practices often define how we envision ourselves, how we want others to see us, and how we choose to navigate the world. It is at the center of our identity and yet it is also the most private expression of that identity. I am curious about the notions of private versus public and how we understand disparities between the two.

These images look at the faces individuals present to the world and contrasts that with the one saved for only a select few. The work challenges assumptions of what is considered normal and acceptable and asks the viewer to re-assess how they see and judge themselves and everyone around them.

Please join us Monday for what I believe will be an enlightening conversation about BDSM and those who embrace the lifestyle.

It’s not very often (actually NEVER) someone can claim they are kicking my ass, but Nick can.  He’s my personal trainer, and for the past few weeks he’s been meeting me at the studio twice a week and really putting me through my paces.  And I’m REALLY feeling the burn, and I bitch and moan and complain, and am generally difficult and he just kind of smirks and smiles and gives me lots of “atta girl, you are doing GREAT” type of encouragement.  Yes, I want a Brazilian bubble butt, and yes, I’d also like to look AMAZING in latex, but goddamn, this is HARD work.   For the record, I don’t like it, not one little bit.  But I also know there is no easy way to get there without some effort on my part.

You know, it really helps that Nick is shiny and pretty to look at, and to help push myself through his brutal workouts I imagine him stripped naked, tied to the cross and getting a lash from my whip for every time he dares utter an “atta girl”.

It’s been an exhausting couple of weeks.  The good kind of exhausting, I’ve worked hard, played hard and spent quality time with friends.  I feel like I’ve been moving non-stop and when that happens I need some serious battery recharging.  Nothing quite does it for me like a night spent at the spa, not just any spa, but the Korean spa.

I’m in love with JeJu Sauna, Home of Well Being.  For just $25 for a 24 hour admission, you have access to six saunas, 3 whirlpools, a salt water lap pool, an exercise facility, dry & steam saunas, infrared lounging area, showers, and more than I can remember .  There are separate men & women areas that feature whirlpool tubs, traditional Korean seated showers, steam & dry saunas and for a reasonable fee they offer a number of spa services.  I’m absolutely addicted to this place.  My typical visit goes something like this;

• 8:00 pm ~ Arrive, check in, pay the $25 admission fee, receive locker assignment and lounging clothes (an over-sized pair of shorts & t-shirt) and a toothbrush,
• 8:15 pm ~ Remove my street clothes, grab a towel, weigh myself then hit the shower
• 8:30 pm ~ Dress in the provided lounge wear, head out to the co-ed lounge area order a bowl of Korean soup from the on site cafe, and enjoy a light dinner
• 9:00 pm ~ Choose one of the 6 saunas, my favorite is the “Jewel Room”, a round, domed room meant to rejuvenate the body & soul where I stretch, do yoga poses and sweat out the stress of the past couple of weeks.
• 10:30 pm ~ Back in the segregated women’s locker, strip off my lounge clothes and soak in the whirlpool jacuzzi or the steam sauna to further open my pores
• 11:00 pm ~ Off to for my body scrub and massage
• 12:30 am ~ Into a fresh set of lounge clothes and back to the cafe for a fresh squeezed juice
• 1:00 am ~ Grab a floor mat & pillow, find a quiet corner and fall to sleep
• 6:00 am ~ Grab a cup of tea and a fresh pastry from the cafe
• 6:30 am ~ Get dressed and head home, trying to keep ahead of the traffic

JeJu offers a  full menu of services, but by far, my favorite has got to be the body scrub & massage.  There is a small army of Korean grandmothers standing by to scrub and exfoliate your body.  For a full 45 minutes I have every inch of me scrubbed with special mitts and soap. The scrub is followed by a full lathering and rinse then an oil massage, mini facial, hair is shampooed and conditioned and the whole thing is finished with a final rinse of warm milk.  It’s an hour and a half service for a mere $70.  Between the entrance fee, food, service and tip, the whole thing cost me only about $125 or, $12.50 per hour that I’m there.  A complete bargain and totally worth every dime.

One of the things I love/hate most about my TiVo is it that records shows it thinks I didn’t know I wanted to watch.  Sometimes it’s a hit, but but more often than not, it’s a total miss and records shit there is no way in hell I’d waste my time with.   One of the programs I’ve saved is “The Ricky Gervais” show on HBO.  A few years ago Ricky, Stephen Merchant & Karl Pilkington launched a podcast that later was turned into an animated series of these conversations that is currently being broadcast on HBO.  It is FUNNY, primarily because Karl is a small minded idiot who speaks in an odd stream of conciseness that truly would be better kept to himself but thankfully is not.  He clearly has no filter.  It makes for awesomely funny TV.  TiVo, in its infinite wisdom, decided since I like that show I’d probably like the new Gervais/Merchant project, “An Idiot Abroad”, and it couldn’t have been more spot on in its choice; I am already in love with this program.  Part travelogue,  part educational and all brilliant television.  Ricky Gervais calls An Idiot Abroad, “The most expensive practical joke I’ve ever done.”  To that I say, “THANK YOU!”  Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

*Edit  apparently, the links above are blocked & don’t work so I’ll past the full url below for your copy & paste convenience:

http://sky1.sky.com/an-idiot-abroad

http://www.hbo.com/the-ricky-gervais-show/index.html

http://www.rickygervais.com/podcast.php

After reading a friends blog post last week about her ongoing search for happiness, I started browsing through some “Self-Help” type websites and the same theme kept presenting itself;  People who do what they love and love what they do are by far happier people.  It didn’t much matter what it was, nursing, volunteer work, banking, working on an assembly line or taking tolls, long as they were doing something that they loved and brought them satisfaction, they were measurably happier people and the trickle down effect to the rest of their lives was significant.

I seriously love my life; what’s not to love?

TMZ broke this story today; I guess she needs to pay her mortgage somehow.  I don’t do “littles”, I suppose I can send them to her.

*Edit TMZ.com has posted the video…. she really needs to learn how to work that whip.

Holy hell, I have cabin fever and I have it BAD!

You might already know this about me, but I hate to drive.  Like, I really, really, really, hate to drive.  My 2002 Dodge (aka, “the tuna can”) has only 62,000 miles on it.  Most cars her age have 150,000+ miles on them by this time.  Not mine.  I can go for days without needing to drive someplace, and most of the time, when I do leave, it’s a pretty safe bet I’m not behind the wheel.  I leave that up to someone else.  I admit it, I not only HATE to drive, but I’m also pretty bad at it; maybe one has something to do with the other, maybe not, but in any case I am fully aware of my suckful driving abilities.  Though, I can say, I have NEVER been in an accident that I caused. EVER.

I’ve been effectively snowed in since Sunday night.  After getting almost six inches of the white stuff Sunday night, Mother Nature bitch-slapped Atlanta with freezing rain and sleet early Monday morning, turning that beautiful, white, fluffy, powder into a giant ice sheet that covered the entire city.  I can’t even walk on this stuff, forget about driving on it.  Atlanta has about 4.75 million residents in the greater metropolitan area, covers roughly 8,400 square miles, and has, as near as I can tell from news accounts, access to 5 snow plows and a  dozen sand/salt trucks.  Do the math… I’ll wait… Yup, that means nobody is going anywhere and unless the weather is cooperative, it’s going to be a few days.  Yeah, no, the weather has not been very cooperative.  The highs have hovered at about 27 degrees and what little ice manages to melt during the day refreezes over night as the temperatures dip down into the middle and low teens.

I just went out to see if my car would start.  It took me about 40 minutes to clear it off (dammit I’m mad at myself for not taking a photo of it before and after) and bless her little heart, she started right up!  Now, lets see if I can make it a mile and a half to the market… I owe some daffy bitch a fucking carrot cake for her birthday this weekend, and I love her enough to risk it.  Plus, I have GOT to get out of the loft, I’m about to go bonkers!

*EDIT I decided to do a little recon before I committed to a drive to the market and took a little walk (“walk” is such a subjective word, I think I pulled something trying not to fall on my ass) up to the main street.  I got there just in time to see a semi oh-so-slowly slide into a car stopped at the traffic light.   Yeah, I think it can wait until tomorrow.

It’s snowing.  Not just a little snow, but a really impressive, Mother Nature says, “I’m going to make you my bitch, Atlanta!” kind of snow. It started at about 8:30 tonight (Sunday) and by 8:45 there was a decent dusting.  By 11:30 there was about 4.5 inches of the white stuff on the ground.  Governor Purdue, as the last act of his term, declared a state of emergency and every school district north of Macon has canceled Monday morning classes.   This didn’t take us by surprise, its been in the forecast since Thursday and several airlines started canceling Sunday night departures & arrivals as early as Friday afternoon.  As of this morning it was impossible to find a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk anywhere in the city (more about that in a minute) and conversations about how folks were preparing for the “snowpocalypse” could be heard at the KC dungeon party Saturday night.  What I don’t understand is how is it possible the City of Atlanta wasn’t prepared for this damn storm?  It’s a fucking nightmare out there and we expected to get about 5 more inches of snow and sleet over night.  Holy hell, I’m glad I don’t have a commute in the morning.

You know what else I don’t understand?  I don’t understand why the hell when snow or ice are forecast for Atlanta, folks make a run on the grocery to stock up on milk and bread.  Yes, milk and bread.  Inevitably when watching “Storm Tracker – 2011″ on the local news, they have a team outside the Super-Walmart  interviewing random shoppers pushing carts full of…. yup, milk and bread.  I really don’t get that.  You know what I go shopping for when I know we are going to have snow or ice?  Red wine and dark chocolate.

Empty Bread Aisle at the Local Walmart